Francis Lederer
Francis Lederer | |
---|---|
Born | František Lederer November 6, 1899 |
Died | May 25, 2000 Palm Springs, California, U.S. | (aged 100)
Resting place | Forest Lawn Cemetery, Cathedral City, California |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1919–1971 |
Spouses |
Francis Lederer (November 6, 1899 – May 25, 2000) was an
Early years
František (Franz) Lederer was born to a
Acting career
Europe
Lederer started acting when he was young and was trained at the Academy of Music and Academy of Dramatic Art in Prague.[2] After service in the Austrian-Hungarian Imperial Army in World War I, he made his stage debut as an apprentice with the New German Theater, a walk-on in the play Burning Heart.[3] He toured Moravia and central Europe, making a name for himself as a matinee idol in theaters in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Austria and Germany. Notable among his performances was a turn as Romeo in Max Reinhardt's staging of Romeo and Juliet.[3]
Lederer worked with
America
In 1931, Lederer was in London to perform on stage in
Although he continued to play leads occasionally – notably as a playboy in Mitchell Leisen's Midnight, with Claudette Colbert and John Barrymore in 1939[3] – in the late 1930s Lederer began to expand his character parts to include villains.[3] Edward G. Robinson praised Lederer's performance as a German American Bundist in Confessions of a Nazi Spy in 1939,[2] and he earned plaudits for his portrayal of a fascist in The Man I Married (1940) with Joan Bennett.[3] He also played Count Dracula in The Return of Dracula, in 1958.
Throughout his career, Lederer, who studied with
In 1941, he took a break from making films in order to concentrate on his stage work. He returned to the silver screen in 1944, appearing in Voice in the Wind and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and went on to play in films such as Jean Renoir's The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and Million Dollar Weekend (1948). He took another break from Hollywood in 1950, after making Surrender (1950), and returned in 1956 with Lisbon and the light comedy The Ambassador's Daughter, with Olivia de Havilland. His final film appearance was in Terror Is a Man in 1959.
During the 1950s, he served as honorary mayor of
Lederer continued to appear on television over the next 10 years in such shows as Sally, The Untouchables, Ben Casey, Blue Light, Mission: Impossible and That Girl. His final television appearance was in a 1971 episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery called "The Devil Is Not Mocked". In it, he reprised his role as Dracula from The Return of Dracula.
Personal life
Lederer, who became very wealthy, invested in real estate, especially in the
Lederer was married three times. His first marriage was to Ada Nejedly, an opera singer. The year they wed remains undetermined, but records show that the couple divorced in 1928.[7] In 1937, he married the actress Margo; they divorced three years later. Lederer's final marriage was to Marion Eleanor Irvine, a native of Canada who lived most of her life in California.[3][8] They wed there in 1941, and over the years he and Marion remained active in supporting various community projects and international humanitarian services, including the promotion of UNICEF.[8] They remained together for nearly six decades, until his death in 2000.[9]
Lederer estate and residence
In 1934, with the help of artisan builder John R. Litke, Lederer began the design and construction of his landmark residence and stables on the hilltop of a large rancho in the
The residence and stables are both protected Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments.[10] After the house was damaged by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the property was completely renovated. The estate is next to the very large 1845 Mexican land grant Rancho El Escorpión, which was Lederer's southern rural viewshed and remained undeveloped open space until 1959. The home and grounds are still in the hands of the family.[11]
Selected filmography
Europe
- Zuflucht (1928)
- Pandora's Box (1929)
- Atlantik (1929)
- The Wonderful Lies of Nina Petrovna (1929)
- Maman Colibri (1929)
- Perjury (1929)
- The Great Longing (1930)
- The Road to Dishonour (1930)
- Susanne Cleans Up (1930)
- Her Majesty the Barmaid (1931)
- The Fate of Renate Langen (1931)
- Adventure in Vienna (1952)
- Stolen Identity(1953)
United States
- Man of Two Worlds (1934)
- The Pursuit of Happiness (1934)
- Romance in Manhattan (1935)
- The Gay Deception (1935)
- One Rainy Afternoon (1936)
- My American Wife (1936)
- It's All Yours (1937)
- The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938)
- Midnight (1939)
- Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939)
- The Man I Married (I Married a Nazi) (1940)
- Puddin' Head (1941)
- Voice in the Wind (1944)
- The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944)
- The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
- The Madonna's Secret (1946)
- Million Dollar Weekend (1948)
- Surrender (1950)
- Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
- Lisbon (1956)
- The Ambassador's Daughter (1956)
- The Return of Dracula (1958)
- Terror Is a Man (1959)
See also
- List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in the San Fernando Valley
- List of centenarians (actors, filmmakers and entertainers)
References
- ^ Lane, Jerry (January 1934). "Francis Lederer: Man of Two Worlds". Hollywood. 23 (1): 16, 65. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
- ^ a b c Erickson, Hal Biography (Allmovie)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k TCM Biography
- ^ a b Francis Lederer at the Internet Broadway Database
- ^ "Autumn Crocus". IBDB.com. Internet Broadway Database.
- ^ Frantisek Lederer, Petition for Naturalization, U.S. District Court of Los Angeles, Jan. 21, 1939. Ancestry.com. Selected U.S. Naturalization Records: Original Documents, 1790–1974 (World Archives Project) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2009.
- ISBN 978-0786408146.
- ^ a b "Marion Lederer Obituary". The Desert Sun. April 21, 2011.
- ProQuest 326873555.
In 1937, he married the actress known as Margo. They were divorced in 1940 and the following year he married a Canadian, Marion Irvine, who is his sole survivor.
- ^ "SFVHS Valley History". Archived from the original on July 1, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2010.
- ^ Big Orange-Lederer Environs
External links
- Francis Lederer at the Internet Broadway Database
- Francis Lederer at IMDb
- Francis Lederer at AllMovie
- Francis Lederer at the TCM Movie Database
- Francis Lederer at Virtual History